Inside the Growing Hair Loss Market

It’s hard to say when the Hers targeted ads started. But looking at my “recently watched” tab on Hulu (a subscription app I refuse to upgrade for ad-free viewing) it was likely between my millionth rewatch of “30 Rock” and “Absolutely Fabulous” and a one-time viewing of “Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.” The algorithm had correctly recognised me as someone who identifies as a woman, and, more specifically, a woman creeping closer and closer to midlife.

That also makes me part of a growing demographic seeking solutions consistent with Hers’ offering, which features medications for weight loss and sexual wellness, as well as, per my personalised ads, hair growth serums and medications. The telehealth company, which democratised erectile dysfunction and hair loss medication for men when it launched as Hims in 2017, reported 1.9 million subscribers across both platforms in the second quarter this year, a 43 percent increase over 2023. The Hers business encompasses “some of the fastest-growing categories under the hood” of the company, CEO Andrew Dudum told Axios in August.

Fifty percent of women will experience hair loss at some point in their life, due to stress, hormonal imbalances, ageing, nutrition, genetics or a combination of all of these mitigating factors. You could argue that catering to such a substantial market — about 30 million women in the US alone, according to the Cleveland Clinic — is just good business. But with scalp care products as well as hair thinning and loss products representing some of the fastest-growing segments of the $456.8 million US prestige hair product market, with thinning and loss products up 34 percent in 2024 versus last year, according to market research firm Circana, it looks a lot more like a big business.

Even in a more conservative investment environment, hair growth start-ups have remained an attractive proposition. Hair wellness brand Vegamour announced $80 million in growth capital from General Atlantic in 2021 ahead of its retail expansion into Sephora; last year, it reached $100 million in revenue and a double digit EBITDA margin. In 2022, following a 13.2 percent minority investment, Unilever acquired hair growth supplement company Nutrafol. This past August, facial bar Heyday co-founder Michael Pollak and former Estée Lauder executive Steve Klebanow closed an oversubscribed $3.6 million pre-seed round of financing for the Great Many, a hair regrowth startup that prescribes topical and oral hair loss products; their first clinic in New York’s NoHo neighbourhood also offers hair analysis services, as well as scalp treatments.

But there’s still plenty of room to grow in the space — for newcomers, and established players looking to differentiate themselves in an increasingly saturated market. A lot of these buzzy brands and products are currently treating “one type of scalp,” suggested Stuart Millar, the CEO of Denmark-based Hårklinikken, which has been in the business of hair restoration for 32 years and has a client roster that includes Gwyneth Paltrow, Violet Grey founder Cassandra Grey and celebrity hair stylist Chris Appleton.

“Factually, if you think about, say, skincare, there is no one miracle that solves all people’s concerns,” he added. As demand grows, the market will need to respond to that reality.

What’s Driving the Trend

The rise of the hair loss market is a symptom of the ongoing “skinification” of the hair category, said Jennifer Lucchese, vice president of haircare merchandising at Sephora; consumers today are paying the same attention to their hair products as they do skincare. The trend, she added, began in the aftermath of the pandemic, when many people experienced stress and Covid-related hair and scalp issues while beauty and wellness attitudes evolved in parallel to include a more holistic approach to health.

Social media has also played a big role in normalising hair loss for a mass audience: A quick scan of TikTok reveals over 91 million videos on postpartum hair loss alone, a common and reversible condition that can emerge following childbirth, each more candid than the next.

“People are starting to have these conversations. These are things that we can talk about and not just be embarrassed and keep it behind closed doors,” said Afton Cobb, M.D. a Jackson, Wyoming-based dermatologist, who has been treating more patients at her office for alopecia, the general medical term for hair loss, which can appear in many forms as the result of various causes, some more treatable than others.

Cobb said an increasing number of her patients are seeking “more natural” solutions in fighting hair loss. That demand has led to the advent of new products and new scalp-centric brands touting vegan, plant-based ingredients, such as Vegamour’s new Gro+ Hair Serum, for which Cobb oversaw clinical trials and is meant to reduce shedding with hair-densifying compounds found in natural ingredients like Rhapontic Rhubarb Root. There’s also influencer Dani Austin’s Diviy; Jooy, from beauty entrepreneur Jennifer Yen and the anti-dandruff label Jupiter, which raised a $3 million funding round in January.

These launches have helped give the category a more scroll-friendly sheen, with sleek, subtle branding and celebrity ambassadors. (Nicole Kidman is an investor in Vegamour.) Retailers, too, have ensured its continued growth by merchandising these products in the hair aisle alongside glossy styling products. In the last four years, Sephora has onboarded Nutrafol, Vegamour, and the scalp care brand Act+Acre, and it continues to work with its other hair brands, including Ouai, Fable & Mane, and Briogeo to address overall scalp health in their offerings.

“Consumers are becoming more educated about the potential causes of hair loss and thinning, which in turn fuels continued interest and investment in this category,” said Lucchese.

Growing a Successful Hair Loss Business

For those that have long been in the hair loss space, the spike in interest has brought both competition — and new opportunities to stand out and scale.

“It’s interesting when I see how many [brands] are now flocking to this market,” says Hårklinikken founder, Lars Skjøth. “Their motivation obviously is the opportunity. ‘Wow, there’s so much talk about this, so let’s put something out there,’ whether you have the right to play or not.”

Skjøth, a trained biochemist, started Hårklinikken after developing proprietary compounds to treat his own scalp issues. He’s steadily built his business through word-of-mouth referrals, and in contrast to noisier telehealth startups, does not include pharmaceutical ingredients in his treatment protocols or his first supplement, which soft-launched in June.

But Millar, who ran clean beauty retailer Credo’s business before joining the Danish company earlier this year, sees the high-touch business, which has doubled in revenue since 2020, as scalable. Ninety percent of Hårklinikken’s global consultations, which service over 100,000 clients, are now happening online, but its botanical growth extracts are still custom blended at one of their five clinics in Copenhagen, New York, Reykjavik, Dubai, and Beverly Hills with formulas consistently tweaked during the lifecycle of a client’s relationship with the brand. Millar plans to build Hårklinikken’s presence with a sixth clinic, opening in London next year—and by banking on a shop-in-shop model that will expand its accredited network of clinicians into aesthetics offices, dermatology offices, and more styling and colour salons where its silicone-free cleansing and care line is available via a limited distribution network that includes nationwide locations of hair salon Spoke & Wheel; come January, select products will arrive in celebrity aesthetician Joanna Czech’s clinics as well. Skjøth and Millar are upping their marketing muscle, too; this Spring, Hårklinikken signed Danish supermodel Helena Christensen, who began experiencing hair shedding after her first Covid vaccination, as its first ambassador.

“The thing that has stuck with me the most [about working with the brand] is that skin care continues past your hairline,” Christensen said. The message is starting to stick with everyone else, too.

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